World Wildlife Fund just released a report on their research cruise to the spill-affected area, where they observed slicks and impacted wildlife. See their photos and video for an up-close look, and get the full report here. (Photo #4 shows researchers studying a SkyTruth image of this spill.) The Australian government has also released a report on the research and wildlife surveys they’ve conducted so far in the area.

Common Noddy recovered from the Montara oil spill by researchers working for the Australian government. Photo taken from their report.

Here’s a visual of those emissions: we processed a MODIS satellite image of the Montara area that was taken on October 27. The well is still actively spewing oil, but the sunglint conditions on this image are not favorable so the slicks aren’t visible. But a pale plume is emanating from the platform location and spreading out as it blows toward the Australian coast to the southeast. This is probably an aerial plume of hydrocarbon smog caused by the natural gas and vaporized natural gas condensate that are also blowing out of the damaged well. Usually those airborne emissions are invisible, but atmospheric conditions must have been right to form a visible smog:

The ongoing Montara / West Atlas oil spill in the Timor Sea off Western Australia is now in its 62nd day. So far, three attempts to intercept and plug the leaking well have failed. Another attempt should happen today. A MODIS / Terra satellite image taken on October 21 – exactly two months after the blowout and spill began – shows slicks and sheen covering 2,600 square miles and approaching within 35 miles of the Kimberley coast. Satellite images show that oil has been moving to the south-southeast from the Montara platform, toward Australia, for the past few days:

A Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism official told Greens senator Rachel Siewert on Wednesday: “The maximum leakage rate from that well could be as much as 2000 barrels of oil a day, with condensate as well.”

Senator Siewert acknowledged that did not mean 2000 barrels were actually coming out, rather that it was the maximum amount possible if the well were operating at full capacity.

At the 2,000 barrel per day rate, over 5 million gallons would have been spilled so far. That’s getting into Exxon Valdez territory.

Could this happen in the US? We can’t say until we get more details about what caused this blowout. But it’s worth noting than in the US Gulf of Mexico, blowouts are not rare occurrences: the US Minerals Management Service has investigated 18 blowouts and 13 “loss of well control” incidents since 1983, several involving fires and fatalities. In 1992, the Greenhill Petroleum blowout and fire sent 70,000-120,000 gallons of oil into Timbalier Bay, Louisiana. Blowouts happened twice in 2007, and the most recent loss of well control was in 2008. And many more, less-serious, incidents can be found here.

Ugh, back to the ongoing Montara / West Atlas oil spill. Looks like the third time’s not the charm in the Timor Sea, where the latest attempt to get this massive spill under control has failed. Oil and natural gas have been spewing into the ocean and air off Western Australia for 58 days. The Montara oil platform — and the West Atlas drill rig that was working there when the blowout occurred on August 21 — are still at high risk for fire and explosion, and cannot be approached.

This is now being reported as the worst oil spill in Australia since offshore drilling began there 40 years ago.

At this point we’ve seen no evidence that a Montara-type drilling accident couldn’t happen anywhere, including in US waters. The public deserves a comprehensive and independent analysis of the Montara failure, once the well has been plugged and the platform can be re-occupied.

It’s now Day 54 of the ongoing Montara oil spill off Western Australia, and the second attempt to intercept the damaged well and shut it down has failed. The next try should happen over the weekend. Third time’s the charm – we hope.

Perth Now reports that the first attempt to shut down the uncontrolled spill of oil and gas from a damaged well on the Montara platform has failed. It’s a highly challenging operation: drillers on a nearby rig that was brought in from Singapore, the West Triton, are attempting to intercept the damaged Montara well at a point more than 8,500′ below the seafloor and pump enough heavy mud into it to stop the flow. It will take up to 4 days to make another pass at the well and try again.

SkyTruth and/or its third party tools use cookies to monitor traffic in the aggregate on our websites and applications and to improve user experience. If you continue browsing, we'll assume you agree to the use of cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time in your browser settings. Find out more in our privacy policy.